Introducing the CUR

Lots of folks have heard of cur dogs; not many folks really know what they are. Some think a cur is a mongrel or mutt. The word “cur” is often used to describe such a beast but a real cur dog is not a product accidental breeding. A cur is a dog that has been generationally purpose breed to fulfill a certain hunting need and/or to provide protection for the owner and the camp. A cur is not a scent-hound or a sight-hound; a cur is unique in that it relies on its nose, eyes and ears, equally, to hunt and to protect.

The other unique cur characteristic is that they are, to a large extent, geographical. A cur in the deep south will serve a slightly different purpose than a cur found in the Allegheny Mountains. In fact, the Rhodesian ridgeback is a perfect example of an African bred cur. Ridgebacks hunt and protect with the equal application of their eyes, ears and nose.

The cur dog was my inspiration for a type of rifle; a rifle whose specifications would be conditional on where and how it would be used and who would use it. The rifle would essentially be a CUR – Conditional Utility Rifle. Along with some shooter dependent size restrictions, a CUR rifle will also allow the tool-free employment of multiple sights – iron sights, a red dot-style sight and a traditional scope (This is not as easy to orchestrate as it sounds.) This mimics the cur dog’s reliance on all three of its senses to be employed as the situation dictates.

Admittedly, Cooper’s scout rifle concept was the inspiration for the CUR but a scout is more of a general-purpose utility rifle. You might say the CUR is more of an adaptive scout, with sort of a 21^st century twist and 24/7 – day or night – application.